The Fantastic Four Return to Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics are bringing back the Fantastic Four in a new ongoing comic book series by writer Dan Slott (Amazing Spider-Man) and artist Sara Pichelli (Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man). The team will include the classic lineup of Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and Thing.

Check out the first piece of new Fantastic Four artwork, drawn by Pichelli.

Art by Sara Pichelli. (Marvel Comics)

The currently running Marvel 2-in-1 series features Thing and Human Torch searching for Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman and their children, so it looks like they will be successful in their mission. That series will continue to run alongside Fantastic Four.

The missing Fantastic Four members were last seen departing to explore the multiverse at the end of 2016’s Secret Wars. That came not long after the ongoing Fantastic Four comic series was canceled in 2015 amidst controversy that Marvel was shuttering the title because rival movie studio Fox owned the characters’ film rights. This was confirmed to be true according to former Fantastic Four comic writer Jonathan Hickman, who spoke candidly about it during a comic convention panel.

Marvel Comics 2018 Relaunch Lineup

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Check out every new Marvel comic announced so far.

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Marvel Comics 2018 Relaunch Lineup

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It’s unclear what changed behind the scenes that Marvel now wants to publish the Fantastic Four again. One factor could be how Marvel parent company Disney is attempting to acquire Fox, which would render any film rights issues moot if the deal goes through. However, that deal came to light at the end of 2017, and typically Marvel Comics plans several months if not years in advance, so this may very well have been in the works before the Disney/Fox deal was even on the table.

Marvel editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski, who took over that role in late 2017, said in an announcement video posted by Marvel that the return of the Fantastic Four has been years in the making and they were waiting for the right creators to be available to relaunch the book. Slott just came off a 10-year run on Amazing Spider-Man and Pichelli recently concluded the five-part Spider-Men II.

Slott has plans for at least 55 issues of the series in order to reach the landmark 700th issue of the series, according to the New York Times.

Fantastic Four #1 will release in August.

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Joshua is IGN’s Comics Editor. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.